He arrived the next morning to evaluate his purchase, trim the hedges and mow the lawn. What he found inside was a body.

“The inside was a mess,” Wilson said. “It looked like (someone) was packing to move. There were a lot of boxes, some pictures of children on the fridge.”

Authorities told him the most recent piece of mail was from November of 2011 and unpaid taxes went back three years. The corpse was on the floor of the master bedroom next to the bed. Longtime neighbors say an older woman from Miami last lived at the home with her sister, but they hadn’t seen or heard from her for several years.

Some thought she moved, others said she just disappeared. Outside, the grass grew long and the community speculated. Inside, Wilson said all that remained were bones, skin and the smell of remains. In the living room was a bird cage and piles of feces.

“You couldn’t tell who it was,” Wilson said. “You couldn’t tell if it was a male or a female … it’s disappointing and a sad thing that nobody cared enough to check.”